Think of that moment in time
Too many years gone by
When someone stepped forward
To conquer fear and
Seize the moment
To give us the courage
To conquer our fear

There were the founding fathers
Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams,
Madison, Hancock, et. al.
The trail blazers
Lewis and Clark
Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett
and Old Andy Jackson, too
The pioneer women and men
The railroad builders, the cowboy, the homestead farmer
And the merchants
Upon whose deeds and courage
Bore a country to expand
Where have all the heroes gone?

George Washington Carver, Eli Whitney, Tom Edison
and Alex Bell, Henry Ford, and the Wright Brothers
All who proved what couldn’t be done, was done
and
Upon whose blood and sweat
This mighty nation grew

There was Honest Abe
and Ulysses Grant
And a man of loyalty and conviction
Robert E Lee
A nation divided at war

And united in death
There were those who suffered slavery
And believed they could overcome
Harriet Tubman, William DuBois, LangstonHughes, Booker T. Washington
Frederick Douglass and
Martin Luther King
Let freedom ring … for I have a dream
And all those who united the divided
The great and the small
Where have all the heroes gone?

Again in times of crisis
There was Teddy Roosevelt
And Woodrow Wilson
And of course Franklin D
Who told us

We have nothing to fear but fear itself
There was
Truman, and Eisenhower, and Patton
Bradley and McArthur too
And all of the soldiers and sailors and airmen
Of all past wars
Who fought the battles
large and small
Those who died to defend

The freedom in this land
Robert and John cut down before their time
And Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and
Michael Collins, the Apollo 13 astronauts
All the astronauts
Who dare to fly in space
Where have all the heroes gone?

— Patrick Pritchard lives in Lawrence.